


Things We Never Said

by Ballycastle_Bat



Series: Olivarry [8]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (kind of), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comic Book Science, Cough Syrup Fog, Dubcon Kissing, Fever, High School Friends AU, Identity Issues, Illnesses, Light Quarantine, Love Confessions, M/M, Pre-Particle Accelerator Explosion (The Flash TV 2014), Sick Barry Allen, Sickfic, Some Emotional Manipulation at The Start, Thirsty Barry Allen, Virus, Vomiting, comic book medicine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:40:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ballycastle_Bat/pseuds/Ballycastle_Bat
Summary: When Thea is quarantined due to her school being shut down, she needs a tutor, Tommy volunteers his and Oliver's old friend Barry Allen. However, Thea can't stop her habits of sneaking out to see her friends and brings home a bug that she of course gives to Barry. With Barry in quarantine unable to return home, Oliver has to take care of him and it turns out there are some things that have gone unsaid for too long.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Tommy Merlyn & Thea Queen, Barry Allen/Oliver Queen
Series: Olivarry [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554625
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76
Collections: Arrowverse Under Quarantine





	Things We Never Said

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Makedon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makedon/gifts).



> [[Notes: I hope you like this fic, dude! I tried to put some things I know you liked in here (: I apologise in advance for choppy transitions or awkwaness. I don't have expiernce cutting downn fics and I had to cut this one down from over 6K.  
> Prompts: I was given the choices: **Oliver Queen/Barry Allan,** or Ray Palmer/Nate Heywood and **Quarantine** , Workplace AU, or **Homeschooling**.  
> Warnings: All in tags]]

**2012**

Barry Allen rose from his desk at Starling City Police department and headed over to the centrifuge machine to separate some samples. He heard a familiar voice. “Hey, Barry!” -- Barry’s heart skipped a beat when he looked up to see Oliver in the doorway. “Look, I know I just called you the other day but--”  
  
“Ollie!” Barry moved across the room and pulled Oliver into a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you.”   
  
Oliver hesitated, a bit overwhelmed by Barry’s warmth. It was stupid, but he’d missed Barry being so excited to see him or hear from him. It had always been like that. “Well, that’s good.” he found himself chuckling under his breath. “I’ve missed you.” He decided to return the hug almost as eagerly.   
  
Barry felt warm at that; it was a sentiment that he liked from Oliver. “I missed you too.”   
  
“I’m afraid I’m bearing some bad news though: Tommy sort of told my mother that you could homeschool Thea for a while. Is that something you’d be interested in? We’re paying you of course. Normal tutor rates.”   
  
Barry considered this for a second, he wasn’t sure he could accept money from Moira Queen. “Yeah, sure.” he could always figure that out later. “I don’t mind helping. What’s going on at her school?” Barry was really hoping for something more. Oliver had been distant in a way that was hard to maneuver around.   
  
“Well, they’ve sort of shut down. There was an outbreak of chickenpox. Then there was this wave of illnesses, about half the student body is sick right now.” Barry could tell that Oliver was more stressed about the situation than he was letting on. "Apparently a lot of them weren't properly vaccinated."   
  
Barry’s priorities shifted. “Is Thea okay?”   
  
“She’s healthy right now, but the school is closed for the foreseeable future.”   
  
Barry nodded. “Alright. Well if you can email me pictures of her text books and some scans of homework I can figure out where she is.”   
  
“I’m sorry to bother you with this.” Oliver said again.   
  
Barry snorted. “Ollie, I’ve done way more outlandish things for you, I can teach Thea some math.” he shrugged his shoulders, clearly remembering one time when they were nineteen and he had to pull Oliver’s face out of a toilet he’d just thrown up in. What was tutoring Thea going to be? Two hours out of his day? He could do that as long as he didn’t get called away too much. He was on call after all.   
  
“You’re the best, Barr.”  
  
Barry felt a flush in his cheeks and went back to his desk and started to process some of the samples already in the computer. “I know,” he joked. “Also, you need to start bothering me at work more, I miss your drop-ins.”   
  
Oliver seemed to hesitate. “Right, I’ll be sure to start doing that. I’ll tell mom you agreed. Now, onto business.” He lifted two take-out containers from Barry’s favourite sushi restaurant. 

“Oliver Queen, my hero.” Barry put a hand over his heart. “I was about to order out. I was going so fast this morning I didn’t notice I forgot lunch.”   
  
“That’s every day, Barry.” Oliver accused playfully, setting Barry’s lunch in front of him. “Also, you talk about me not coming to bother you? You haven’t been to the manor in weeks.”   
  
“I was just, you know. Giving you guys your space. To be with your family.” he explained a little awkwardly. The Queens (Tommy included) had just gotten Oliver back after thinking he was dead for five years, he wanted to give them time.   
  
Oliver met Barry’s eyes, a serious look on his face. “I wanted to see you. Things are going to go back to normal now, Barr.” Who did Oliver think he was fooling? Certainly not Barry.   
  
It was a lie, Barry knew that for sure. Well, not entirely, things would be normal; but a new normal. He was brought back to what Tommy had told him yesterday though, when he had the same conversation with him. Tommy had said ‘ _and what are you? The mailman?’_

Oliver found a seat on the other side of Barry’s desk. “So,” he started to dig into his sushi. “Tell me what’s been going on here? What have I missed?”

“Well, we opened up a case on a guy called The Count, but we have nothing.”  
  
“Who’s the count?” he quickly followed up with another question. “Can I see?”   
  
Barry paused. He wasn’t really supposed to give out information on ongoing cases but he decided to make an exception. “Sure, here.” he grabbed the file from his desk and passed it to Oliver. “It’s really bad.”   
  
“Looks like it, he’s testing it on homeless people?” he raised his eyebrows. “What does that mean?” he pointed to a mark down on the file.  
  
Barry glanced at where he was pointing. “That just means the case is on the backburner.”   
  
Oliver nodded and Barry wondered why he’d asked. He knew Oliver knew what that meant, afterall, he did listen when Barry talked even when he pretended not to.   
  
“Right,” Oliver nodded and closed the file handing it back to Barry. 

Oliver stood when he finished eating and started to wander around the lab. He’d been there a thousand times before. Barry could clearly remember the first time Oliver had been in here with him.  
  
 _Oliver followed Barry into the crime lab, carrying a box of things. “So, you finally made it,” Oliver mused. “You’re a nerd full time.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Barry looked back to see Oliver had a brilliant smirk on his face. He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m sure you’re just loving this.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Oliver dropped the snarky attitude just a little. “... I really am proud of you, Barr.” he laughed and set the box on the desk. “I mean, I could never do this, are you kidding? I dropped out of three colleges.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“You could if you applied yourself.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“You’re calling me lazy now?” Oliver accused._ _  
_ _  
_ _Barry sighed. “You’re smart and bored, Oliver. You’re_ **_not_ ** _lazy.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Oliver walked around the desk and picked up a neatly arranged set of test tubes. He pulled one out and started turning it over in his hands. “So, you put blood in this and spin it around?” he pulled the lid off and stuck his finger inside._ _  
_ _  
_ _Barry paled. “Those are sterile!” he hissed and swiped the vial from Oliver’s hand and threw it in the trash. “Stop.” He went to the closet and replaced the one Oliver contaminated. “Also, not it’s not just blood.” Barry went into a lengthy response about what the container was used for._ _  
_ _  
_ _“I’m just screwing with you.” Oliver clapped him on the back and beamed at him. Barry knew Oliver would have normally said ‘I’m fucking with you’ but recently he’d taken to joking that he couldn’t be so dirty-mouthed in front of Barry beccause ‘you’re a cop now’ and he and Oliver had argued about this cop status. Barry wasn’t a cop, but Oliver’s antics didn’t care._ _  
_ _  
_ _He paused as Oliver patted the top of his hand that now rested on the desk. They had times like this, when they were alone, the way Oliver looked at him sometimes felt different. It drove him a bit crazy, wondering if he was the only one who sometimes noticed that feeling between them. “I know.” he swallowed hard and pulled his hand out from under Oliver’s._   
  
In the present, they talked for the rest of Barry’s lunch hour and there were a few times where Barry felt like Oliver was looking at him like that. He brushed it off though, this wasn’t the time to deal with that. Oliver stood and started to wander around the room, but he was calmer now. He didn’t bounce off the walls and touch everything. He stopped when he saw something sticking out from under a pile of papers.   
  
It was a mask. He picked it up and inspected it carefully. It looked like an ordinary Superhero mask. Except this one was a dark green that matched the vigilante’s hood. “Barry, what is this?” Oliver looked up at him seriously.   
  
“What?” Barry glanced at him then he saw the mask. “It’s not mine-- I mean it is mine, but it’s not mine.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just a thing I made.   
  
Oliver thought for sure that he had more time. He was almost positive that Barry wouldn’t already be digging into the vigilante. Especially with the blood on his hands. Though he really did do his best to avoid that, sometimes he just felt it couldn’t be avoided. “What is it for?”   
  
Barry bit down on his lip. He had suspicions that Oliver could be the arrow of course he had, but he didn’t want to believe it. “The Arrow.”   
  
Oliver stared at him for a few seconds. “You know if something happens to you, it’s not just you.” 

He blinked slowly in response, trying to figure out what Oliver meant. “Sorry?”  
  
“If something happens to you, it happens to Tommy, Thea and my mother and me. You know that, don’t you? You of all people should understand that, Barry.”   
  
Barry wasn’t sure what caused Oliver to pull this card. “I know that.” Barr said seriously. “You think I don’t?” had he finally gotten too close? Barry had suspected the Arrow could be Oliver, but he never wanted to believe it. Not completely, but now he had to really consider it, didn’t he?

Oliver looked at him, his eyes softer. “If anything happened to you I’m not sure what I would do.” Would he have to tell him now? Barry would dig into this until he got himself killed. He didn’t let things go. Not even a little bit.  
  
“Yeah.” Barry sighed, he couldn’t exactly blame Oliver or being concerned but he could handle himself.

Their little hang-out carried over until Lance came in and kicked him out. Barry apologised to Lance relentlessly, who seemed to be more angry at Oliver for the situation for Barry. Lance had always had a bit of a soft spot for Barry. He’d once offhandedly asked Laurel why she hadn’t dated the only decent one. Laurel pretended she didn’t hear that, and Barry and Laurel joked about it later.

* * *

When Barry arrived he was greeted at the door by Tommy Merlyn. He was pulled into a hug. “Barry! It’s good to see you.”   
  
“Hey, Tom.”   
  
Tommy wrinkled his nose. “Don’t call me that, that’s an old man's name.”   
  
Barry clapped him on the shoulder. “No one would ever mistake you for an old man.”   
  
“Says the baby face.” he rolled his eyes. “You’ve got it easy.”   
  
“Where’s everyone?”   
  
“Barry!” Moira appeared. “So good to see you,” she pulled him down slightly so she could give him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you so much for coming, Thea is in the living room.”   
  
Barry headed further into the massive house. It had taken him years to maneuver it. Barry could remember clearly when he walked into the living room for the first time and say six year old Thea at the table with crayons. She had demanded he draw her a cat, and Barry did. It was obvious even then who ran the house.   
  
Now seventeen, Thea sat on the floor in front of the coffee table with an open text book. “Hey, Speedy,” he grinned. “How are you?”   
  
“Look what the cat dragged in.” she smirked.   
  
He sat down beside her. “What are we working on?” he looked over her shoulder.   
  
“Biology.”   
  
“Oh, good! I know this.” he beamed at her.   
  
Thea laughed. “You know everything. But this is good because I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.”   
  
Barry pulled open one of her books, he already knew enough about the subject from work so he wasn’t too worried about it. They started to do some of the easier questions first. “Don’t worry, we can leave the long answers for last.” he assured her.

About an hour later Moira came in. She was clearly dressed up. “Oliver and I have an event to go to, but Thea isn’t allowed to go out and see her friends because of the epidemic at the school. She’s under a light quarantine.”  
  
Barry frowned. “I don’t know if I can babysit, she’s a real handful. Might make me draw cats.” he received a firm shove to his shoulder from Thea, earning her a laugh. “Have fun Mrs. Queen I’ll make sure she doesn’t go too crazy.”

* * *

“Well, I want ice cream.” Thea decided, moving to her feet.  
  
Barry stood as well. “Oh no, you’re not getting out of this.” he smiled. “Sit down. I’ll get it, try to figure out the first long answer question.” he headed into the kitchen where he found Raisa baking cookies.   
  
“If it isn’t our resident Smarty Pants.” she smiled. “Mrs. Queen didn’t tell me you were coming over.” she pinched her cheek.   
  
Barry smiled. “Hello, Raisa. I’m getting ice cream for Thea.”   
  
“Yes, Mr. Tommy said that you were going to help Thea with her homework soon, but I did not think he meant today.”   
  
Barry moved around Raisa and got a bowl from the cupboard and the large container of strawberry ice cream from the fridge. He turned around and grabbed a spoon from the drawer before heading back out.

When he came back out, it appeared that Thea had vanished from the living room. He walked to the front door and looked at the hanger for the keys and sighed. Thea’s house keys were gone. Of course they were. He sighed and rubbed his face before pulling out his phone and texting Oliver.  
  
 **Barry:** Hey, Ollie. Thea snuck out while I was getting her ice cream from the kitchen.   
  
Oliver didn’t reply, so he texted Moira to tell Oliver to check his phone. A few minutes later Barry had an incoming call from Moira. He answered.   
  
“Hello, Mrs. Queen--”   
  
“Oliver left over an hour ago, dear. I was actually hoping you would know where he was.”   
  
“I don’t,” Barry shook his head though Moira couldn’t see. He wasn’t entirely sure what he could do about that though. “I’ll figure it out though, I’m sorry to bother you at your event.”   
  
She brushed it off as no big deal and hung up. Bary responded by dialing Oliver.

* * *

“Oliver,” said Felicity from her hub in the Bunker. “Your phone is ringing.”  
  
“Who is it?” Olier replied over the comms.   
  
She looked at the phone number. “Barry Allen, aw there’s a little microscope emoji.”  
  
Oliver cleared his throat. “Please answer it and pretend to be my secretary.” Oliver was a bit busy tracking down the count.   
  
Felicity knew this was a bad idea. Oliver’s secretary? At this hour? “Hello, Oliver Queen’s mobile phone, how can I help you?.”   
  
“Felicity?” Barry sounded surprised, he knew who Felicity was of course. He’d met her at Queen co once or twice.  
  
“Yeah, Hello Mr. Allen.” _wow_ she thought _that was awkward_ . “Mr. Queen is busy at the moment. Can I take a message?”   
  
“No, you can’t. Put him on the phone please.” Barry replied, rather frustrated with this development.   
  
“Barry I can’t talk right now. What’s going on?” Oliver’s voice came through the coms.” His voice was low and hushed, like he didn’t want to be heard.   
  
Barry rolled his eyes. “Well I just thought you’d like to know that your sister ran off.”   
  
“Teenagers do that, they run off and get into stuff. You and I know that better than anyone.” Oliver’s words made a flush rush to Barry’s cheeks. Of course he had to think about _that._ He sighed. _That was not what he meant and you know it._   
  
“That’s not what I meant,” Oliver echoed Barry’s thoughts.   
  
“What did you think I thought you meant?” Barry demanded. “I’m just trying to find your sister.”   
  
“Right,” Oliver laughed, smirking very slightly.   
  
Barry could hear the smirk in his voice and he didn’t like it. “That’s not what I--! Nevermind.” he hung up the phone, almost missing high school days when he could slam his phone shut when he was frustrated with Oliver’s antics. 

Oliver did admittedly feel a bit guilty for putting Barry on the spot the way he did, but he had a city to worry about. He couldn’t drop everything because Thea snuck off to a friend's house. Barry was still there when he got home, he waited all night for Thea. Maybe him too. Oliver got a blanket from one of the closets and put it over him, petting his hair gently before going upstairs.  
  
The next day of tutoring was also cut short, but by Oliver. He apparently promised Thea some kind of movie day. The third day, however, was not good. It was his day off so he came by early and he was feeling a bit off. Nothing he thought he needed to worry about, just a small heachache. He tried to avoid Oliver as much as possible. He wasn’t even mad anymore, he was tired.

* * *

It was around eleven a.m. when Barry tipped from ‘nothing’ to ‘really sick'.  
He barely made it to one of the perfectly tiled bathrooms on that floor. Luckily for him, he knew this house pretty well. He made it to the marble sink before the contents of his stomach heaved upward and out of his mouth unpleasantly. 

“Are you okay Mr. Barry?” Raisa asked from the hall.  
  
He gagged once more. “I’m fine, Raisa. Thank you--” his stomach heaved again, throwing up a little bit more into the sink. “I’m sick don’t come in here.”   
  
“Would not be the first time.” She called through the door.

Barry opened the door. “I’m fine, Raisa.”  
  
“You look terrible!” Raisa argued, crossing her arms. “You are going straight home to bed.” 

Barry felt a bit light-headed and before he knew it he was sitting on the bathroom floor against the doorframe. He wasn’t entirely sure how he got there, but there he was, against the cold tile.  
  
“I'm going to get Oliver!” Raisa said before taking off down the hallway in a power walk.   
  
When she returned with Oliver Barry was just starting to come back to himself and pull himself up the doorframe. “Easy, Barr.” said Oliver as he helped Barry up.   
  
Barry wobbled and his knees buckled, Oliver sweeping in again and catching him right before he crashed to the floor once again. He ran a hand over his hair.

“Come on Barr,”

“I’m fine.” Barry mumbled. “Ow.”  
  
“What’s wrong?”

“That hurts. Your body isn’t soft anymore. It’s like rock hard mass.” He flinched and tried to move away from Oliver. Though, he was now thinking about Oliver’s body. Of course he’d noticed a difference. He grabbed Oliver to try to get rid of the feeling that he was falling over the other side of his shoulder. Oliver’s arm was toned under his left hand.  
  
Oliver laughed softly. “I’ve been working out, Barry.”   
  
Barry mumbled “I noticed.” a bit flustered at being this close to Oliver, but he tried to think about something else, something that really wasn’t how good Oliver smelled.   
  
That was a bit bold, but Oliver wondered if he was just tired and meant that differently.   
  
“He needs to go home.” said Raisa.   
  
“I’m going to bring him to the hospital first.” said Oliver, moving Barry through the house. “Raisa, would you please pack a bag with some of my clothes?”

“Of course, Mr. Oliver.”  
  
When they got in the car Barry closed his eyes in the back seat, falling asleep with Raisa gently patting his cheek and giving him words of assurance in Russian. Which Barry had only understood from knowing her, and Oliver seemed to only recently understand.

At the hospital Barry was quickly admitted and a doctor came in to look him over. “Well, your fever is rather high. We’ve given you something for that.” Barry nodded weakly. “You’ve tested negative for strep, but positive for cold and flu, and oddly enough you’ve tested positive for chickenpox when we were looking for shingles. You shouldn’t have chickenpox. You're in your late twenties.”  
  
Barry scrunched up his face. “I was vaccinated for that.” Barry mumbled. “and I’m not itchy.”

“It looks like you’re asymptomatic right now but you could develop symptoms.”  
  
Oliver spoke now. “You have a lot of students from St. Mary’s right?”   
  
“Yes, we do. Is he connected somehow?” The doctor asked.   
  
“I’m tutoring a student. My little sister.” Barry said tiredly. “Can I take another nap?” 

“Well, students from St. Marry’s are testing positive for combinations of mono, flu, and chickenpox.” The doctor explained.  
  
“uhhhh great.” Barry complained loudly. 

Soon Barry was discharged, with instructions to isolate. So it looked like Barry wouldn’t be going in to work for a while; that would be a fun phone call. He closed his eyes and sat up.

“Do you want to just crash here?” Oliver offered casually. “Thea is dragging me into another movie night and if we’re all going to get sick you shouldn’t bring it home to Iris.”  
  
“You’re right,” Barry sighed. “Sure. I’ll stay.” he said softly. He was still mad at Oliver but maybe if he stayed at the manor he could look more into what was going on. He had to have some sort of proof if he was going to confront Oliver about this.  
  
Barry was in the Queen house for a few hours before he started to feel the chickenpox symptoms. Oliver left. He’d come in and sat on the side of Barry’s bed. “Hi,” he said, one hand resting gently on Barry’s arm. “I have to go out for a little bit, but Raisa and everyone are here if you need anything.  
  
“Where are you going?” Barry asked a bit tiredly, his fists clenched to keep from scratching at his chickenpox.  
  
Oliver felt Barry’s forehead with the back of his hand. “Your fever is a bit high. When was the last time you took something?”  
  
Barry grabbed his phone and showed it to Oliver, showing the alarm for his next dose of fever meds. “Another few minutes.”  
  
“Okay. Take something while I’m gone then.”  
  
Barry grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”  
  
He ran a hand through Barry’s hair. “Hey, I’m just going to see some things.”

“You look nice.” Barry smiled with his eyes closed.  
  
Ollie laughed. “You’re not even looking at me.”   
  
Barry opened his eyes. “I saw when you came in, you look … very nice.” his eyes trailed over Oliver’s arms in the tight sweater, it hugged his chest nicely. Oliver always knew how to dress well (read: drive Barry crazy).   
  
Oliver watched Barry and he could see that Barry was looking at him, something he couldn’t say he really noticed before. Had Barry ever checked him out so obviously before? He wasn’t sure what this was, but he certainly didn’t mind. It was _Barry_. Wasn’t as if he hadn’t stolen some glances himself. “Thank you,” Oliver laughed. “I’m just going to a meeting about the club.”  
  
“Get ‘em.” he mumbled. “Then come home to me.” he closed his eyes, probably not sure he said that outloud. Or maybe he wasn’t thinking about how he’d said it. Oliver laughed and patted Barry’s arm again. “Okay, man. I’ll see you when I come home with a deal.”   
  
“I’m so proud of you, Ollie.” Barry mumbled before he fell asleep again.   
  
When Barry woke up again, Oliver was gone. He felt out of it, and a little stuffed up. He went into the bathroom attached to the bedroom. He went in and started to wash his hands. When he was done with that he wiped down the door. He moved downstairs and got some cough medicine from the bathroom down there.   
  
He had so many symptoms he wasn’t even sure where to start. Though he did his best to keep his hand clean and wipe down things he touched. Raisa shooing him along the way. He figured he could try to do some work from home so he requested that someone at the precinct forward him some paperwork as well.   
  
When he finally returned upstairs the cough syrup was starting to hit him, making his limbs heavy. He realised though, that he was for the most part alone. Oliver and his bodyguard were gone, Moira was out for the day with her designer.   
  
The house was silent apart from Raisa downstairs, so Barry hauled himself up and made his way to Oliver’s room. Letting himself into the room with the key. He carefully began to look around the room. He knew Oliver would cover his tracks but he had to try, right?   
  
So he went to Oliver’s desk and started to look around inside. He wasn’t being anywhere near as careful he would have been had his head been screwed on straight. He found a small book and shoved it into his pocket.   
  
“Barry, what are you doing?” Oliver stood tall in the doorway, his shoulders back. Oliver even carried himself differently than he had before everything. When he moved, Barry noticed the slightest limp even in his sedated state. He then looked down at the desk that he’d just turned inside out. Papers were all over the floor, and pencils. He hadn’t even noticed the level of destruction he was causing. 

Now he had to come up with a lie. “I need a pen,” he mumbled low.  
  
“Barry.” Oliver sighed, then he turned to John Diggle, whom Barry finally noticed was hovering around as well. “Give us a moment?”   
  
John left with that and Oliver moved into the room, shutting the door behind him. He walked towards the desk and picked a pen out of the fancy pen holder, offering it to Barry. “There’s always been one right here.”   
  
“I didn’t realise I made a mess. I just--I just wanted a pen.” _he’s going to know you’re lying_. He thought desperately. _He’s going to know_ . Barry swallowed hard and looked between Oliver and the offered pen multiple times before he realised again how itchy his arms were. “I’m sorry.” tears welled up in his eyes and Oliver put the pen down.   
  
“Hey, Barr. Don’t worry--”   
  
“I’m just -- so sorry. I need a pen. I just-- needed a pen.”   
  
Oliver raised his eyebrows. “Are you okay?”   
  
“I took cough syrup.” Barry rubbed his face.   
  
Oliver seemed to understand now. “And you’re overtired.” he put the pen in the holder and reached out to Barry, guiding him around the desk.   
  
Barry protested. “I’m contagious.” 

“You’ve touched everything in my room.” Oliver countered. “I’m not afraid of your germs.” he brought a hand up to feel Barry’s forehead; of course he was hot to the touch. “Barr.” he sighed and pulled Barry into an embrace.  
  
Surprised by the affection, Barry clung to it, wrapping his arms tightly around Oliver. “Ollie,” he fell apart, shattering into a million pieces against Oliver’s shoulder. He wasn’t sure if it was the stress or the medicine, maybe it was both combined with how Oliver was holding him.

Oliver put one hand on the back of Barry’s head to stroke his hair down. “Hey, we’re going to get you to bed, it’s okay.” Barry closed his eyes and nuzzled himself further into the embrace, closing his eyes. He felt tension roll off his body as Oliver held him. Barry was too tired to keep one thought for too long though so he followed Oliver back to the room.  
  
The next thing he was fully aware of was Oliver’s hand on his face. “Hey, Barry?” he said gently. “Thea’s just started showing symptoms too.”   
  
“Is she okay?”   
  
Oliver nodded. “She’s just got flu symptoms not chickenpox. You’re the only unlucky one with that. My mother is going to the lake house with Walter and it’ll be just the three of us here. You know what that means.”   
  
“Movie nights?”   
  
“Movie nights.” Oliver laughed and patted Barry’s shoulder. “Do you think you can eat something?   
  
Barry decided that he could attempt to eat something, so he went downstairs and Oliver made him something light. They then moved to one of the media rooms.

Thea took a bad turn towards the end of the night and decided to let Raisa take her upstairs to bed. The boys, however, stayed downstairs.  
  
About halfway into the movie projected on the wall Oliver’s phone went off. “I might have to go soon, Barry.” Oliver told Barry, who sat on the sofa close to him, partially under his arm.   
  
“Can I sleep on the sofa?” Barry asked, he was exhausted still and didn’t want to go all the way upstairs.   
  
Oliver nodded. “Yeah,” he took the blanket from behind him and put it over his shoulders.   
  
When Oliver returned from his adventure, he saw that Barry was somewhat awake where he left him. So he joined him. 

“You came back.” Barry had started to worry, it’d taken longer for Oliver to come back this time.  
  
Oliver wrapped one arm around Barry. “Of course I did.” he grinned.   
  
Barry turned to lay his head on Oliver’s shoulder. He mumbled his words into the fabric of his shirt. “Please don’t push me away, Ollie. It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me things right now, I won’t make you.”   
  
Oliver sighed, Barry was once again getting under Oliver’s skin. Not in the annoying way, but the way that spread a warmth through him. Barry had really stuck with him through a lot, hadn’t he?   
  
Oliver rubbed his shoulder. “I’m not pushing you away. Everything’s going back to normal.”   
  
Barry sighed. “Yes you are. You don’t want me to know you’re _him_ .”   
  
“What are you talking about, Barry?” Oliver’s body tensed.   
  
“You protect the city,” he tried to cuddle close to Oliver but he was too tired and moved his hand to rub his face instead, which was still itchy. “Like you’ve always protected me.”   
  
Oliver starred at Barry, had he really already figured that out? How long had he been at this? He didn’t want to think about it. “Go to sleep, Barry.”   
  
and Barry did.

Days later, Barry was better. He still had a bit of a cough, and he was still not feeling up to par. When Barry woke up again it was colder in the room. Oliver had vanished it would seem, but he remembered talking to him at his bedside. Whether he was somewhere in the house or off arrowing was yet to be determined. He hoped Oliver was home though, they had to talk about this, didn’t they?  
  
He pulled the small diary he’d taken from Oliver a few days ago and started to look through it. Inside were just names, a lot of them were crossed out and belonged to people the Arrow had dealt with.   
  
He decided to go into the bathroom and take another dose of cough syrup and lay down. He made it upstairs and ended up falling asleep on the bed in the room he was staying in. When he got up he went to check on Thea who gave him a groaning thumbs up from her bed.  
  
He took that and headed downstairs to the kitchen, where he saw Oliver. Standing there in the kitchen. He stared at Oliver for a moment, the light from the skylight was casting down on his hair as he turned to Barry and smiled at him.   
  
Something stirred inside him. He stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Oliver in an awkward side hug. His head rested on his shoulder. Oliver’s hand came up to touch Barry’s arm. “Hey, Barr. Did you sleep okay?” he wasn’t exactly surprised by the affection; they were close but something felt off.

Barry closed his eyes and listened to Oliver’s chest rise and fall for a few seconds before he looked up and brought his lips to Oliver’s in a soft kiss. Just a peck, but then he lingered.  
  
Oliver wasn’t sure why Barry had decided to kiss in the middle of the kitchen while he was still recovering from being sick. That was a bit odd but something drew Oliver in to return the kiss; in doing so he was met with a stale faux cherry taste.   
  
He pulled back abruptly. “Why do you always kiss me when you’re drunk?”   
  
“I’m not drunk, Ollie. Besides that was _one time_ . We were nineteen.”   
  
“Really?” Oliver smirked. “Because you did kiss me, and now you’re kissing me again.”   
  
“That’s because I think about it all the time.” Barry said a bit defensively.

  
“Oh.” Oliver blinked. “... You should go back to bed, Barry. You’re still sick and you just kissed me.” That was the last thing he expected Barry to say.   
  
Barry turned a bit red. “I am so sorry.” He hadn’t even thought about that.   
  
“It’s okay, but you need to go to bed.” He said seriously.   
  
Barry paused and pulled out the book, putting it in Oliver’s hand. “No, I want to talk to you.” He tried to clear his head and focus. They had a lot to talk about, cough syrup or not.

  
**[Two Weeks Later]**

  
“The grease paint really isn’t cutting it,” Barry grabbed a rag and gently started to wipe the paint from Oliver’s face. He put it down, their eyes meeting. Barry looked away and reached into his pocket, grabbing the mask he’d made. He secured the mask over Oliver’s face. He pulled his hood back up. Oliver stared back at him with intensity. “How do I look?”   
  
“Like a hero.”   
  
“You’re so corny.”   
  
“I’m not corny--” Barry cut himself off when he felt Oliver’s leather gloved and against the sensitive skin just under his chin.   
  
“I’ve always loved that about you.” Oliver added before he guided Barry into a kiss.   
  
The sudden action surprised Barry, but he was content to go along with it. HIs hands came up to pull Oliver closer to him. He pulled him heavily into the kiss, one hand going into his hair. One of Oliver’s arms wrapped around Barry’s lower back and pulled him a bit closer. And that was it. “We have a lot to talk about.”


End file.
